Dj Ganyani, known to his parents as Ganyani Frederick Tshabalala; was born in Meadowlands – Soweto on the 19th of January a couple of decades ago. He is the founder and Chief Executive officer of Ganyani Entertainment, a focused music operation and equipment company that has an established urban and contemporary pop and house collection.
Ganyani Tshabalala has been in the music industry for over 20 years. With his great passion for music, at the age of 15 he started teaching himself several DJ techniques to manipulate the prerecorded music. These include cueing, equalization, phrasing and beat juggling etc. to perform the transitions and overdubs of a number of sources in a more creative way. Today he is a professional DJ who masters the technique of using harmonic mixing for choosing compatible songs. This has made him and other local DJs to be the pioneers or the grandmaster of this entertainment technique in the country.
DJ Ganyani is classified as a mobile DJ with turn-tablism as his main article. He travels or tour with his own sound systems and play from an extensive collection of pre-recorded music, on various media, to wow targeted audiences. He works for hire at private functions such as receptions, religious ceremonies, school dances; but also seen frequently in bars, nightclubs, neighborhood parties, block parties and product launches. To date he has achieved the following milestones:
- Becoming a household name amongst the youth in South Africa and the SADC region particularly in Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana.
- He is a DJ of choice for Orlando Pirates FC and the South African Football Association.
- Released a compilation of the Simunye House Grooves Vol. 1& 2 on invite by SABC 1 to broaden their Simunye brand appeal to the youth.
- Received a Gold Disc Award for Simunye House Grooves (This award was for achieving the client’s objective).
- Honored by Castle Loud for his exceptional skills and given an Achievers Award.
In addition to the two albums above, Dj Ganyani has produced more than eight albums – In The House featuring Ganyani, Ganyani’s House Grooves 3 and the Ganyani’s House Grooves 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. These albums have been each awarded a Gold Disc for having sold over 25 000 units and they are still going strong. He has tutored, mentored, and inspired the likes of the late DJ Khabzela of YFM, DJ Mbuso, DJ Bradley, DJ Slender (Cape Town’s popular DJ); also the ever popular Mpho Tsedu of PhalaPhala FM and Muvhango fame.
He was a nominee in the 2006 Metro FM Awards in the category “Best Club DJ”. The year 2007 has seen the Master’s addition to the House Grooves by releasing yet another album, Ganyani House Grooves 5 which also reached its gold status in 3 months of its release. Three tracks on this album were produced by the Ekurhuleni’s most loved DJ Clock. That very same year has also seen DJ Ganyani crowned one of the South African House Legends for his contribution in the music industry by Brandhouse. In 2010, DJ Ganyani released Ganyani House Grooves 7, which was also nominated for the Metro FM Awards for Best Compilation.
2011 has seen DJ Ganyani assembling what he calls Ganyani Entertainment Family, they released an album called 1st Gathering. In 2012 he released Ganyani’s House Grooves 8 album that reached gold status and it is still going strong with hit tracks like “Be There” which features Mlu & Big Nuz; and “Xigubu” which features FB(Fiesta Black). These songs were well received by the masses of the SADC region (the likes of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana). Every single song on the album has a unique feel about it and as for the album, it has been the number 1 selling album in the country for more than 10 weeks at Musica Stores.
Here is the Journey of Ganyani House Grooves 8
Dj Ganyani Feat. Mlu & Big Nuz – “Be There” was the first single and paved the way for the album and took it to the top with the electrifying performance at the Metro FM Awards. It also stayed on the number 1 spot for weeks on radio stations around South Africa.
- “Be There” was on the chart for 16 weeks on Capricon FM.
- “Be There” was also on the 5FM Euphonik’s show for 9 weeks on the charts.
Dj Ganyani Feat. Fiesta Black (FB) – Xigubu, this single has been number 1 on the Top 40 local best played and In the world it was number 4 after RobinThicke, Justin Timberlake & Daft Punk! It’s all because of DJ Ganyani and friends.
- Xigubu was on the Capricorn FM Charts for more than 17 weeks on the chart (5 weeks on the number one spot).
- Xigubu was also nominated at the category called Xitsonga House for Xitsonga Music Awards 2013 at Munghana Lonene FM.
- Xigubu’s Music video was nominated for the BEST DANCE MUSIC VIDEO on the Cannel O Music Awards in 2013.
- Xigubu was nominated for Best Collaboration and Best Hit Single on the Metro FM Awards in 2014.
- Xigubu was nominated for THE KIA RECORD OF THE YEAR award on the SAMA Awards in 2014.
- It was also nominated for The SONG OF THE YEAR award on the MTV Awards in 2014.
Ganyani House Grooves 8 album went up to no. 10 on the Top 50 Musica International Chart and it was no. 3 0n the Top 20 local chart. After the success of “Ganyani’s House Grooves”, Dj Ganyani came back with blazing tunes on Ganyani’s House Grooves 9. He came back on the scene with a blazing new single titled “Lengoma”, the single was the lead single off his new album “Ganyani’s House Grooves 9” which was released in September 2015. “Lengoma” features G-Kah and was on high rotation on a number of radio stations including Metro FM, YFM, Kaya FM, Ikwekwezi FM and 5FM among others. Dj Ganyani’s Second Single “Talk To Me” which features Layla on vocal is still the talk in town even today, topping charts every week since the release and it is on high rotation on all National and Community radio stations, the same can be said about “Ntoni” because the legend never disappoints. 2016 also saw Dj Ganyani being nominated on the FAME SA Awards which were organized in Limpopo, he was nominated alongside K’zela & Stylish Dj, Brazo Wa Afrika and South Africa’s much talked about King Monada of the “Oska Borha Moreki” fame on the same category.
The album “Ganyani’s House Grooves 9” features artists that include; Layla, Wandaboy, G-kah, Hloni and Skye Wanda among others, it is more uptempo, laid back and soulful. The latest developments on the album is that the single Dj Ganyani Feat. Layla – Talk To Me is nominated for song of the year at the MMA’s (Metro FM Music Awards) taking place on the 27th February 2017. Dj Ganyani is also nominated for Artist Of The Year (Listeners Choice) for the MMA’s.
